Monthly Archives:February 2017

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My current reading list for the next few weeks. Doing some heavy research before I start a new project. Also, I’ve always been interested in people who know it’s not too late and started their biggest success at age 50 or later.

Author Ryan Holiday joins the race

What if, in an attempt to create a bomb-proof container, you instead created a device with immense destructive power? Two authors, born over a half-century apart and writing completely different kinds of books, could tell you first-hand.

Sammy Glick is a powerful, loathsome, complicated man. Born in Hollywood from the mind of author Budd Schulberg in his seminal work, What Makes Sammy Run?, Sammy sprang to existence in the 1940s as a cautionary tale of ambition, greed, and hubris run amok. Somewhere along the way, as the 20th century morphed from the united age of WWII to the cynical era of Vietnam, Sammy himself morphed into something of a role model – not only for wannabe Hollywood executives, but also for up-and-coming business executives in a hurry to get to the top. All of this to the horror of Sammy’s creator, Budd Schulberg:

Life’s treasured moments arrive unexpected

I spent Sunday morning planning my funeral. It had been a typical lazy Sunday when I had a “moment.” I created a list of my ten favorite pictures; I wanted to make sure my wife (Clair) would know the ones I want shown when I’m laid to rest. This was not a morbid moment, it was joyful.

Fearing the Harvest

Imagine a farmer who carefully plants a crop one day – tilling the earth, planting the seed, adding fertilizer and top soil, watering it to give it a head start. Then, at the end of the day’s labor says,

“I hope it doesn’t grow.”

“I hope I don’t water it again tomorrow.”

When we indulge a whim and engage in behavior we know is incongruent with our core values, we are that farmer.

Don't Give Up. Make Something Happen

If you want to buy a blue bicycle, you can’t limit your search to a store that sells only red sports cars. This was my thought as I listened to a friend of mine complain that there was nothing good on the real estate market right now. Looking to purchase investment property, he had just finished looking at our neighbor’s house for sale. I sympathized with him and said all of the polite things, even though I was thinking that if my wife (Clair) and I had taken that same approach we never would have been the house on the other side of the fence.

After spending Thanksgiving of 2012 with my family in Oklahoma and seeing how much our kids loved my sister’s huge backyard, we returned to Texas with our minds made up on moving to a house with at least one acre. There were a few other upgrades we wanted as well, but the extra outdoor space was number one on the list.

Move to the beach whenever

While searching for an image for a quarterly power point presentation at work, I stumbled across the picture you see below: “1. Move to the Beach 2. Don’t worry, be Happy.” Even though it wasn’t what I needed for the presentation, I saved the image because it struck me as odd.

Why would a person delay being happy? Especially in today’s world where delayed gratification is about as rare as a non-partisan political discussion.

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Michael W. Devers

I’ve been threatened by Garth Brooks, warned not to touch Shania Twain, broken into a bowling alley with the Dixie Chicks, told by Vince Gill that he hoped I choked on my food, and spent a very scary night in a hotel room with David Allan Coe....